SALMAN RUSHDIE and the new blasphemy laws. “Blasphemy. That is the incendiary charge laid at the door of Salman Rushdie by his Islamist enemies – from the Ayatollah Khomeini who issued the fatwa in 1989 to the suspect who attacked him earlier this month. Today, in the liberal West, we tend to think of blasphemy as an outdated offence – belonging to a pre-modern era. Yet it is increasingly clear we have replaced the old blasphemies against the church with new taboos – where unorthodox ideas are branded ‘hateful’ rather than heretical. Could this be why the solidarity for Salman Rushdie has been so thin and fleeting? Has the West given in to the idea that certain blasphemies cannot be tolerated?”

Yes. The Woke/Green state is a species of theocracy itself, and feels solidarity with other such.